Two years in, Cherie DeVaux’s training operation is really starting to look the way she’d hoped it would when she left the employ of Chad Brown in 2018. Last Saturday, May 16, the 38-year-old made headlines at Churchill Downs as the only trainer to win two races on the Louisville, Ky., track’s delayed opening-day program.
Dinar ($7.20) won the eighth race on the card, and Reagan’s Edge ($27.00) delivered by a nose in the 11th and final race of the day. Both horses’ wins came in allowance races against stiff competition and large fields.
“In a stressful time of so much uncertainty, it was really exciting to have that as our first day back in Kentucky as we get back to some semblance of normalcy,” DeVaux said. “We had planned on having everything ready to run at Keeneland, but the plan worked out to have them ready to go for Churchill. We felt very confident about both their chances.”
DeVaux’s professional life is living up to the dreams she envisioned, but she couldn’t have imagined the way her personal life would change over that same period of time. She married bloodstock agent David Ingordo in April of 2018, and was delighted to gain a stepdaughter, Reagan, at the same time.
“I went from being by myself and extremely career driven, to now I’m sharing my life with two other people, my husband and stepdaughter,” DeVaux said, speaking by phone as she dropped off lunch to Ingordo at the farm. “Trying to manage my personal life with my business, it’s a juggling act. My time is not all my time, it’s divided amongst clients, family, and each division of the horses (20 at Churchill Downs’ training center, and 20 at Keeneland). I used to have a lot of time, and I was a very independent person and I was proud of that, so I’ve had to learn to share some of that.
“I’m only me, I can only be me. Sometimes it’s hard; I can be abrasive when I say things. But it’s like that with growth; you try to be the best version of yourself, or you try to learn to be.”
Working with superstars like Lady Eli during her eight-year tenure with Brown, DeVaux became well known for meeting the mare at the winner’s circle with an exuberant kiss that was often caught on camera. DeVaux was one of the several who helped nurse the mare through a challenging case of laminitis and later watched her return to racing’s highest level, so the emotional display was certainly warranted.
Cherie Devaux, then assistant to Chad Brown, kisses Lady Eli after her 2016 Flower Bowl victory
That said, DeVaux is generally steady, calm, and even pragmatic. Her brain often functions like a computer, with facts about each horse in her care filed where they are easily accessible, as well as endless information about equine nutrition, medicine, exercise schedules and grand plans.
When it came to growing her own business, she quickly learned to rely on her patience and work ethic above all else.
“When I left Chad I had no clients, no pieces of equipment, nothing,” DeVaux explained. “So the first year was, on paper, a bit slow going, but I did all the things other people may have been doing while simultaneously working for another trainer.
“We started out at zero, and the first year we really just got organized and put together our plan.”
That first year was spent in New York, but DeVaux made the decision to shift everything to Kentucky for year two. It was more convenient for Ingordo, and several major costs (insurance, cost-of-living) are cheaper in the Bluegrass State.
She won her first race as a trainer in March of 2019, ten months after taking out her license, with her 29th starter, a colt named Traveling.
“He was one of the first ones who came in, so it felt extra special,” DeVaux said. “I watch a lot of people who go out on their own and they’re immediately successful, and it’s hard because finding those employees who fit your program is really challenging.”
The pace picked up in 2019, especially nearing the end of the year, and DeVaux wound up saddling 10 winners from 71 starters for a strike rate of 14 percent.
“In September it really got started, especially with the 2-year-olds,” she explained. “They really performed above our expectations. The plan for the winter was always to regroup in Florida, freshen everyone, and point them toward spring/summer in Kentucky. It’s really profound that the plan is starting to come into focus now, because you know what they say, ‘The best laid plans…’”
The coronavirus outbreak struck while DeVaux was still in Florida. While racing continued at Gulfstream Park, the industry-wide uncertainty made making plans for her young business difficult, at best.
“I probably planned ad nauseum to get back into Kentucky, just trying to get through each day and support everyone else,” DeVaux said, laughing good-naturedly. “It was a little monotonous, especially because it meant I couldn’t take that hour for myself in the gym every day.
“On my end, I absorbed the cost of having extra help for a couple months so that we could have it on the back end, because I knew we had a lot of horses to come in. I didn’t want to let anyone go who was coming to Kentucky.
“It was also tempting for me, with all of this, because I had some 2-year-olds that were ready to come down. But one, it’s not the right thing to do to change surfaces on 2-year-olds three times in such a short period, from Ocala, to Payson Park, to Kentucky. Two, it’s also an extra van bill for the owners.”
DeVaux was able to make her way home to Kentucky in early May, and she credits her husband with helping her keep her cool during the quarantine period.
Devaux, with Ingordo and stepdaughter Reagan
“David is very supportive of me, and he knows when I just need a bit of reassurance that the path I’m on and the plans I’m coming up with are the right ones,” said DeVaux. “He just keeps me level-headed. It’s easy to panic when you’re in Florida, and it’s easy to want to run there or to ship out to run, but it wasn’t the right thing to do, or for what we were trying to do.”
That patience was rewarded with the early double at Churchill Downs, and DeVaux is now looking forward to entering Bayerness in next weekend’s Dogwood Stakes. Curlinesque and Elle M’a Souri are both ready to run, as well, so there are several races she’s really looking forward to over the next few weeks.
DeVaux is also excited for this year’s crop of 2-year-olds, though she won’t push them to be ready to race until late summer or early fall.
“I couldn’t feel more fortunate with the clients that we have,” DeVaux said. “I’m really fortunate that they’re such good, supportive people, and we’re all on the same page. Our staff, the management has been ironed out, which is hard, because you’re trying to get people with the same ideals as you in terms of care and how things should be done day to day.
“So, at the end of the second year, going into the third year of business, I’m extremely happy with how the whole picture is coming together.”
When she first started training on her own, DeVaux’s main goal was to not lose sight that the horse should always be put first. Another was to be known for her integrity. She’s achieved both of those goals, but the path to her current success was tougher than she anticipated.
“I’ve been humbled, I’ll admit,” DeVaux summarized. “When you go from such a high percentage barn, with high success, to not just not winning right away, but not having all the action right away, it’s tough. We might have one horse run a month rather than one every hour, so I learned a lot more patience. All things come in time, though, so long as you’re patient and do not panic.”
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